December 2011

Consider, dear listeners, the unresolved interval between Christmas and the New Year. Some of us work, some don't. Some socialize with friends and family, some enjoy a good book. A fortunate minority take vacations in warm places; the rest of us return unwanted gifts, make resolutions for the new year, clean out closets, take in a movie, and keep busy to disguise the lack of normal purpose.

In general, it's an ill-defined and unsettled week in our national calendar until New Year's eve parties and a massive day of football bring some all-American clarity back to the picture. In the week to come, we start the new year and whatever the 'new normal' is.

On this transmission of HEARTS of SPACE we wish you a stellar new year, and bring you a soundtrack for this phantom period on a program called INTERLUDE. Music is by JEFF OSTER, MARK ISHAM, KATHRYN KAYE, TIM STORY, LUDOVICO EINAUDI, BOB HOLROYD, DARSHAN AMBIENT, and introducing JONATHAN HUGH.

As we pass the winter solstice and begin the end of the year holidays, the sounds of the season take on a celebratory and spiritual air. In the far northern country of Norway, it's always a white Christmas, and the music strikes a balance between the somber isolation of the long Arctic nights, and the cheerful lights and rituals of the holiday season.

Northern European folk and classical music covers a wide range of emotion. In Norway, it's often plaintive and austere, yet full of intense feeling; a fusion of darkness and light — from joyful hymns and lovely wedding marches, to melancholy songs and solitary prayers. The resonant bite of the Hardanger fiddle, the rich cushion of the organ, the soft tones of the harp, and the extraordinary vocals — create a musical experience that's been refined and deepened for hundreds of years.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, a Nordic holiday journey from our longtime guest producer ELLEN HOLMES of ADAGIO RECORDINGS, on a program called STARLIGHT NORTH.

Music is by an all-star group of great Norwegian musicians, including fiddlers SUSANNE LUNDENG and ANNBJORG LIEN, IVER KLEIVE, the choir SKRUK and others, and singers ANNE-LISE BERNTSEN, VIDIA WESENLUND and SOLVEIG SLETTAHJELL.

Amazing, but true: we've been inventing electronic instruments and creating electronic music for over 120 years.

Back in 1876, ELISHA GRAY invented the electroharmonic piano; the instrument transmitted musical tones over wires. In 1906, THADDEUS CAHILL invented the Dynamophone, also known as the Telharmonium. It was the first 'additive' synthesizer, producing music by use of alternating current generators or 'dynamos.' Inconveniently, it weighed over 200 tons! It was designed to transmit sound over telephone wires. Unfortunately, they melted.

We've been doing better lately. Today, electronic instruments are ubiquitous and portable, fueling a worldwide boom in electronic music. And it reaches us on the air, on nice plastic discs, and on wires....that don't melt.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, another ambient journey in electronic sound, called TELHARMONIA. Music is by STEVE ROACH, BRIAN ENO, NUMINA, LIGHTWAVE,and JOHN BROADDUS.

When WENDY CARLOS wanted to introduce the Moog synthesizer to popular music in 1969, she chose the music of JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH for the world's first album of electronic classical transcriptions. "SWITCHED-ON BACH" was a sensation that won three Grammy awards — a landmark in electronic music.

Why Bach? It turned out that the music of the 17th and 18th centuries was ideally suited to the limited capabilities of early monophonic synthesizers, and Bach was the king of the Baroque. Even so, it took weeks of painstaking work to record each piece. Carlos proved that synthesizers could produce never-before-heard sounds that could still be fully musical and expressive. In doing so, she set the stage for all the electronic composers that have followed.

Baroque music is a sonic edifice built on "counterpoint" — independent, continuously moving, yet harmonically related melodic lines and rhythms. The integration of these lines gives Baroque music an architectural integrity and irresistible kinetic appeal. Whether it's an elegant rhythmic dance movement, a stately procession, or a slow interlude — things move inexorably forward across a rich harmonic soundscape to the ultimate goal of sonic resolution.

It was a music of courts, drawing rooms and social occasions, played in palaces and opulently decorated churches. The tone ranged from light and buoyant to busy and mechanical; from formal and polite to intensely emotional in the slow Adagios, Arias, Largos, and Sarabandes.

On this transmission of HEARTS of SPACE, we explore the sublime depths of the Baroque adagio, with music by J. S. BACH, VIVALDI, BOCCHERINI and ALBINONI…on a program called BACH & BAROQUE.

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Here's a recipe for a long-running music genre: take a joyous, earthy sound you can dance to; balance with real life sadness and heartache; season generously with gorgeous melodies and some of the finest voices on the planet; add quite a lot of rain, then weather to a fine patina with salty North Atlantic winds — and you have something that can stand up to the centuries.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, an early winter's journey into the charmed and charming realm of Celtic and Irish music called 'FOLLOW THE DREAM.' Music is by SECRET GARDEN, MOYA BRENNAN & CORMAC DE BARRA, ARYEH FRANKFURTER & LISA LYNNE, AINE MINOGUE, JOHN DOAN, PATRICK BALL, PHIL COULTER and STEPHAN MICUS.